(And saying Julia has been waiting for this day is an understatement. One Saturday ago, Ethan asked the girls if there was anything special they would like to do anytahing special:
ME: So what are we doing today? Did the girls pick anything?
ETHAN: The girls were entirely unhelpful. Madeleine didn't know, and Julia said she wanted it to be A's.)
So anyway, today it was finally A's, and the Rowe household was in full swing bright and early this morning. We arrived at the Championship Pool around 6:45 so the kids would be ready to swim warm-ups at 7:15. Julia was SO excited to wear her tech suit to the Championships. For those not in the swimming know, a tech suit is a bathing suit made out of a hydrophobic material so as to repel water, reducing any drag the suit will acquire by becoming wetter and heavier. Tech suits are also made to be worn super tight so as to provide compression, in the same way that compression socks work for runners. Julia had been begging for a tech suit for the past year, so I bought one as a special surprise for her to wear to her New England Swim Championships in March. HOWEVER, as faithful blog readers know, Julia then got the flu the day before New Englands and had to sit out the meet. Thankfully, the suit came in handy for today's event. Here she is, sporting her suit while posing next to Madeleine (who has the regular team suit on under her clothes):
Doesn't really look that much different from a regular bathing suit, right? And the amount of "help" it gives in youth swimming times is pretty minimal, I would guess. But Julia became weirdly superstitious about the suit. Or, perhaps I should say, weirdly dismissive of her own athletic ability. She had an incredible meet; she finished within the top 6 places in the Trials in her events, guaranteeing her a spot in Finals. Furthermore, her breast stroke in Trials was a personal best time.
JULIA: But Mommy? Do you think the only reason I got a best time is because I'm wearing a tech suit?
ME: No, I think it's because you swam really well.
In the Finals, Julia managed to swim her personal best in the 50 yard butterfly, finishing fourth overall. Her 50 yard breast stroke was even more impressive. Not only did she break the personal best she had set during Trials, but she finished second by a hair to the top swimmer, and beat out the person who had a faster seed time than she did. In the girls 11-12 freestyle relay, Julia was the anchor leg, and by the time she dove in, her team was neck and neck with the team in the next lane. Julia had to anchor against the swimmer who had JUST won the 11-12 girls freestyle overall, so things were not looking good, but Julia managed to smoke her and swim her very best freestyle time.
ME: Julia, I am so proud of you! You had such a great meet!
JULIA: But do you think I only swam those times because I'm wearing a tech suit?
Yes. I think that is the reason why you swam so well. If you had been in a regular suit, you would have been a big fat loser. Not to mention that a bunch of the other swimmers ALSO had on tech suits, but you still swam as fast as you did relative to them.
Madeleine swam slower than her best times, but still managed to put on an impressive show for a 9 year old in the 9-10 age group. When Julia was 9, I remember how bitterly unfair it felt to her to place JUST shy of making Finals, but Madeleine managed to make Finals in both her events, finishing 4th in butterfly and 5th in breast stroke. And, to top everything off, Madeleine's 9-10 girls freestyle relay placed first as well! Madeleine was ecstatic on the pool deck upon the win, and especially upon the fact that I'd told her she could eat the second half of a chocolate donut she'd bought after her relay.
As you can see, she has no concept of self-consciousness at all:
(And this picture is actually of the SECOND time within the day that she unabashedly went around with a chocolate face.)
Congrats to the Rowe girls and to the Sharks on a great Championship Meet!!
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